Fawlty Towers actress Prunella Scales has died | UK News

John Cleese has paid tribute to his Fawlty Towers co-star Prunella Scales, who has died aged 93, describing her as a “wonderful comic actress”.

The star, who was living with dementia, was watching the sitcom the day before she died, her sons Samuel and Joseph West said in a statement confirming her death.

“Our darling mother Prunella Scales died peacefully at home in London yesterday.”

Her seven-decade acting career saw her in multiple roles from the 1950s, including in 1960s sitcom Marriage Lines, before featuring as the wife of John Cleese’s character Basil Fawlty, in two series of Fawlty Towers in 1975 and 1979.

The family statement added: “Although dementia forced her retirement from a remarkable acting career of nearly 70 years, she continued to live at home. She was watching Fawlty Towers the day before she died.

“Pru was married to Timothy West for 61 years. He died in November 2024.

“She is survived by two sons and one stepdaughter, seven grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

“We would like to thank all those who gave Pru such wonderful care at the end of her life: her last days were comfortable, contented and surrounded by love.”

Prunella Scales was one of the most successful and popular comedy actresses of her generation – achieving worldwide fame and recognition as Sybil, the long-suffering wife of Basil Fawlty in the sitcom Fawlty Towers.

Her performances, alongside John Cleese, are often regarded as arguably some of TV’s funniest comedy moments ever.

The sitcom, set in a hotel in the seaside resort of Torquay, continues to be broadcast. It was developed into a theatre production that moved to London’s West End in 2024.

‘National treasure’ and ‘British icon’

John Cleese described his on-screen wife as “a really wonderful comic actress” and “a very sweet lady”.

“Scene after scene she was absolutely perfect,” he added.

Jon Petrie, director of comedy at the BBC which broadcast Fawlty Towers, described her as a “national treasure whose brilliance as Sybil Fawlty lit up screens and still makes us laugh today”.

Broadcaster Gyles Brandreth told Sky News “she was funny, independent, intelligent, interesting, interested, intrepid, a very… considerable actress. She was a mistress of her craft.”

In an earlier tribute on X, he posted images of Scales alongside Queen Camilla, from an event in May 2024.

Sir Keir Starmer’s official spokesman said Scales “was part of a golden era for British comedy” whose talent “gave many people a huge amount of enjoyment”.

Meanwhile, Corinne Mills, for Alzheimer’s Society, called her a “a true British icon” and praised her for “shining an important light on the UK’s biggest killer”.

Sybil was ‘poignant and beautiful’

Sky News arts and entertainment reporter Bethany Minelle said the success of Fawlty Towers was largely down to how Prunella Scales portrayed her character, Sybil.

“She could have played that as a kind of moaning, whingeing, kind of negative kind of wife… the wife indoors. And she didn’t.

“She absolutely gave it layers. It was poignant and beautiful.”

Seven-decade acting career

But although she was regularly cast in comic roles, alongside comedy giants like Richard Briers and Ronnie Barker, her abilities ranged far more widely than that.

Prunella Margaret Rumney Illingworth, who was born on 22 June 1932, had a seven-decade acting career.

Her career break came with the early 1960s sitcom Marriage Lines, starring opposite Richard Briers. Scales also played Queen Elizabeth II in the British film A Question Of Attribution, a role which earned her a Bafta nomination.

In 1973, Scales teamed up with Ronnie Barker in the series called Seven Of One, and in 1991 she starred alongside West on the West End stage in Long Day’s Journey Into Night.

Scales married West in 1963, and had two sons; the elder being the actor and director Samuel West.

She was a lifelong supporter of the Labour Party and appeared on their party political broadcasts during the 2005 and 2010 general election campaigns.

She also used her status to help charities, including the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Families Association (SSAFA).

Dementia caused her ‘gradual disappearance’

In January 2013, she revealed her short-term memory was fading and her husband later confirmed that Scales was living with vascular dementia.

West told Piers Morgan’s Life Stories: “The sad thing is that you just watch the gradual disappearance of the person that you knew and loved and were very close to.

“When we’ve been to a concert, or a play, or a film, there’s nothing very much we can say about it afterwards because Pru will have a fairly hazy memory.”

The couple appeared together in 10 series of the TV series Great Canal Journeys until Scales’ dementia reportedly progressed to the point where they had to stop in 2020.

The pair appeared in several more specials, where they looked back at their travels.

Scales is survived by her sons, Samuel and Joseph West, stepdaughter Juliet West, seven grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.